THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate some of our nation's finest governors joining us today. We talked about a couple of things. The first thing I did was bring the governors up-to-date on recent successes we've had in Iraq; I talked about my discussion with Prime Minister Maliki, about the fact that he's completed his cabinet. I also told them that I had talked to our commanders and congratulated them on bringing Mr. Zarqawi to justice.

I thanked our governors for being such strong commanders-in-chief. I hope they take a message back to their respective Guard units how much our country appreciates their service, and I hope they also take the message back that we appreciate the service of their families.

We also talked about fiscal discipline, how the executive branch can have certain tools to work with the legislative branch to make sure that they're -- responsible spending. Every one of these governors have got a line-item veto, and they've used it wisely, and they shared their experiences with me. And the reason they did so is because we're urging Congress to give this President and future Presidents the opportunity to be able to have what is very much similar to a line-item veto. And the American people expect their money to be spent wisely. The President needs to have a tool to be able to work with the Congress so that that money is spent wisely.

I appreciate the support of both Republicans and Democrats on the Hill in supporting the bill that we've submitted. I urge the Congress to pass this type of legislation so that we can work together to get our deficit cut in half by 2009, but, more importantly, assure the American people that we're being wise about how we use their money.